Chipmaker Yangtze Memory weighs over US$40 billion China IPO next year: sources

[HONG KONG] Yangtze Memory Technologies is considering an initial public offering in mainland China at a valuation that could exceed US$40 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, in what could be one of the biggest listings there in years.

YMTC, as the chipmaker is known, may seek a valuation of 200 billion yuan (S$36.5 billion) to 300 billion yuan, and it is working with China International Capital Corp (CICC) and CSC Financial on the potential IPO, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. An offering may take place as soon as next year, some of the people said.

Separately, ChangXin Memory Technologies is also planning to go public onshore. The company, known as CXMT, this month completed pre-listing tutoring work for its IPO and is working with CICC and CSC Financial, the same pair of banks YMTC is relying on. The Hefei-based chip firm is also targeting a valuation of 200 billion yuan to 300 billion yuan in its IPO, people familiar with the matter said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Details of YMTC and CXMT’s IPOs are still preliminary and subject to change, according to the people. Representatives for the chip companies and the banks did not respond to requests for comment.

Should the deals go ahead, they could provide a tailwind for other Chinese chip and high-tech companies to pursue listings to capitalise on buoyant share prices – the country’s benchmark stock index is hovering near a three-year high.

Chipmakers, in particular, have rallied this year amid the government’s campaign to reduce China’s reliance on foreign technology by developing its own.

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Moore Threads Technology, China’s leading graphics-processors company, said last month it received approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for an IPO on the Star Market.

Though the people did not specify how much the chipmakers would raise, the offerings could be the biggest IPOs in mainland Chinese exchanges in years. If the companies were to sell 10 per cent stakes at the high end of the proposed valuations, they would be US$4 billion deals, the biggest there since 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

YMTC and CXMT make different types of memory for storing data. They compete with South Korea’s SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and US-based Micron Technology YMTC is among a group of Chinese chip firms subject to Washington’s trade sanctions designed to uphold US national interests and rein in China’s tech advances.

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Chipmaker CXMT plans Shanghai listing with 300 billion yuan valuation: sources

Prolonged tensions between the world’s two largest economies have led to escalating export controls on advanced chips and chipmaking machinery to China. Those curbs have hit efforts by Chinese companies like YMTC and Huawei Technologies, which plans to challenge Nvidia’s lead in artificial-intelligence chips and help the country build hardware powering AI.

Still, US curbs have not dampened sentiment among Chinese investors betting on local firms achieving exponential growth, thanks to Beijing’s policy to build up indigenous technologies to swap out foreign imports in the world’s largest semiconductor market.

Cambricon Technologies, which designs AI chips, saw its share price more than double since the beginning of this year. Hua Hong Semiconductor has more than doubled in Shanghai in 2025.

Beijing has repeatedly vowed to pool together all of the nation’s resources to become self-sufficient in critical technologies as US sanctions bite. CXMT and YMTC have been respectively domestic leaders in dynamic random access memory and 3D NAND flash memory, racing to help China replace South Korea and American firms in the field.

Washington has considered including CXMT in a list which would restrict its access to US technology, but so far has not sanctioned the company. YMTC was added to the so-called entity list in 2022. BLOOMBERG